Originally Posted by
Cooperd0g
The wife makes more money in her job than I will as a military reservist plus first year pay at Delta and her family is still in town where we live now so we are planting roots here. "Here" is Reno. I have a good shot at a part time military unit close by - I already work closely with them, but I don't want to be cocky enough to say its a lock - you never know what could happen.
Coop,
If you've read my posts, you know that I'm a big fan of living in domicile, or reasonably close (an hour or so). Assuming that you get hired by Delta, I would talk to the wife about the possibility of moving to SLC. Can she find a similar job there in her profession? Any chance of you getting a reserve job at Hill AFB? Your QOL is going to be so much better living and flying out of SLC. Also, I was domiciled at 4 different bases during my time at Delta, and I thought that SLC was the best base by a long shot.
Originally Posted by Cooperd0g
If I were to get either one of those, Reno has numerous non-stop flights to both LAX and SLC every day on Delta (though I think all the ones to LAX are SkyWest prop flights and most of the ones to SLC are mostly the CRJ). It sounds like from what I have read on other threads that I would be able to do "long" reserve at home because of the numerous flights per day for each place out of Reno. Is this possible?
Coop,
There are a few things you need to understand about jumpseating on Delta, or any other airline. First of all, at Delta you can reserve the jumpseat (on Delta mainline flights only) 4 days in advance if going to work, 3 days in advance if returning from work, and 1 day in advance for any other personal travel. You can't reserve the jumpseat in advance on SkyWest or ExpressJet. What does this mean to you commuting from RNO? It means a lot. It's the difference between having a reserved jumpseat on a Delta mainline jet, or hoping that there will be an open seat in the back, or a jumpseat available on SkyWest/ExpressJet. It sounds like you will be at the mercy of these two carriers to get to work (SLC, that is). Not an ideal place to be, in my opinion.
I commuted from SAN to SLC regularly, and it was pretty easy because I had a handful of Delta mainline flights I could count on to get me there. I used SkyWest a few times from SLC to SAN, and it was hit or miss. I couldn't believe how many times during the summer I was told the RJ was weight restricted, and couldn't take a jumpseater. If this happens to you in RNO, I suppose you could drive to SLC and make your sign in (from long call), but I basically see this as setting yourself up for a painful existence.
Originally Posted by Cooperd0g
It also sounds like "short" reserve would still require a local place to stay though. Am I getting this right? Obviously if I were based anywhere else I would need a crash pad for anything reserve.
Absolutely. You'd need a crashpad or a motel room for short call in either SLC or LAX.